Class 9 History: French Revolution - NCERT Solutions

The French Revolution

• The French Revolution took place from 1789 to the late 1790s, and it completely changed the social and political structure of France.

Before the Revolution

• The people of France were divided into three social groups or "Estates" before the Revolution.
• The three estates were:
  • 1st estate: Clergy
  • 2nd estate: Nobility
  • 3rd estate: Peasants, artisans, small peasants, landless labor, servants, big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers, etc.

Causes of the Revolution

• King Louis XVI inherited an empty treasury due to long years of war.
• The cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the Palace of Versailles added to the financial burden.
• France's financial resources were drained due to the war with Britain and the cost of helping the thirteen American colonies gain independence.
• The French Government had to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on interest payments alone.
• Raising taxes did not suffice, because the French society was divided, and only the 3rd estate had to pay taxes.
• The population of France was growing massively, leading to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains.
• The production of grains could not keep pace with demand, causing the price of bread to rise rapidly.
• The gap between the rich and the poor widened due to the wages of workers not keeping pace with the rise in prices.

Outbreak of the Revolution

• All these factors led to the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Beneficiaries of the Revolution

• The 3rd estate benefited the most from the Revolution.
• The groups that were forced to relinquish power were the people belonging to the 1st and 2nd estates.
• These people had enjoyed certain privileges by birth, which they lost with the Revolution.

Legacy of the Revolution

• The ideas of liberty and democratic rights are the most important legacies of the French Revolution for the peoples of the world during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.